LeBron James scored 28 points in Cleveland's 114-102 loss to the San Antonio Spurs last night, becoming the eighth member of pro basketball's elite 30,000 point club. James, at 33 years and 24 days old, nipped Kobe Bryant (34 years and 104 days), as the youngest player to join the club. You may have read or heard media reports stating that James is the club's seventh member; it is an ongoing shame/scandal that the NBA and most media members who cover the league refuse to recognize ABA statistics in general and Julius Erving's statistics in particular.
As I wrote last year after Dirk Nowitzki joined the club, "Julius "Dr. J" Erving is the most overlooked member of the club, because many media outlets inexplicably fail to account for his ABA points--but Erving deserves recognition as the first 'midsize' player to break the 30,000 point barrier, a feat only accomplished by centers Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain at the time that Erving joined the club in 1987; indeed, it would be 13 years after Erving retired before power forward Karl Malone became the club's fourth member. Soon after that, Michael Jordan (in his second comeback, this time as a Wizard) became the club's fifth member and just second 'midsize' player, a feat matched about a decade later by the club's third and final 'midsize' member, Kobe Bryant."
The complete list of 30,000 point club members consists entirely of players who are recognized by one name: Kareem, Mailman, Kobe, Jordan, Wilt, Dirk, Dr. J, LeBron.
Scoring 30,000 points requires tremendous skill and durability. It is unfortunate that the media consistently fails to recognize Erving's accomplishment but perhaps James reaching this milestone will be the first (or, hopefully, final) step in the process of shattering the myth that James is a "pass first" player. James has a legitimate chance to pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's record (38,387) to become the sport's all-time leading scorer; barring an injury that causes him to miss a significant number of games, James--who currently sports a 26.8 ppg scoring average and ranks fifth all-time at 27.1 ppg--needs to average about 25 ppg over the next four seasons to supplant Abdul-Jabbar. James has averaged at least 25 ppg every season since his rookie campaign and he is showing no signs of slowing down, at least as a scorer.
James is without question a great passer but it is equally without question that he is a great scorer. Many of his fellow 30,000 point club members were great passers (and all of them were at least good passers) but none of them were ever considered "pass first" players. James deserves hearty congratulations for this great accomplishment but the media members who cover pro basketball need to cover the sport's history accurately and completely, without randomly disregarding some statistics and without creating false narratives that do not match a player's resume/skill set.
LeBron James Becomes Eighth--and Youngest--Member of the Elite 30,000 Point Club
